Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
- Mortimer Adler's
- Syntopicon
Essays
Liberty:
Editor's
1-minute essay
-
- "The world has never had a good definition of the
word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all
declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.
With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the
product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they
please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only
different, but incompatible things, called by the same name--liberty. And it follows that
each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incomparable
names--liberty and tyranny."
Abraham Lincoln, address at Sanitary Fair, April 18, 1864
Dr. Adler, after many years of careful study, states that few words tender to us
more meanings, with accompanying perplexity, than the great idea of Liberty.
- Given the ample disparity of opinion among the great
teachers, Adler asserts, this word is almost impossible to define.
Nevertheless, there seem to be three main categories under which the past
discussion of Liberty divides itself:
(1) freedom to act as one pleases (granted by circumstance): this is the freedom of men and women in
relation to others and society. Included here are social, political, economic, and other
freedoms. In all of these, the primary issue is one of an ability to act or do as one
wishes. For example, one may wish to dine at the Ritz, but, lacking the enabling element
of money, this may not be possible. Also, one may wish to exercise a freedom to speak or
pursue a vocation of one's choice, but if the political climate of one's country will not
allow these benefits, freedom to act as one pleases will be severely restricted.
Expressions of freedom in this area will become reality only as circumstance and good
fortune allow (see Editor's essay: Good and Evil).
(2) freedom of choice (granted by natural endowment): while some philosophers deny that
humankind possesses free will in any real sense, the general consensus has it that man
enjoys the power, the freedom, to choose his course of action -- circumstances may
disallow the actual execution of such choice, but the power of will remains untouched. Men
and women enjoy such capacity, not as a blessing of circumstance, but as innate attribute
-- we have it simply by virtue of our being human.
(3) freedom to will as one ought (granted by acquisition): this kind of freedom speaks to the
beginnings of moral perfection. Theologians might call it "freedom from sin";
psychiatrists may view it as "freedom of the integrated personality" versus the
compulsiveness of the neurotic. It is the freedom to become what we ought to
become in terms of our potentialities as persons. In this light, the apostle John
writes: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Liberty of
this sort comes to us not by innate right, nor by circumstance, but, if at all, through
personal development.
Philosophers speak of many problems, many questions, associated with Liberty, for
example:
As mentioned, some deny that man has free will, an objection based on a view of
man-as-machine, man as just another object of matter in the universe and, like all objects
of matter, subject to forces acting upon him. These forces, they say, will mechanically
produce their results -- and man's free will is merely so much illusion in the process.
Some debate the nature of law in relation to freedom: do government-decreed laws
reduce freedom; is law an obstacle to freedom? -- or does law enhance and protect freedom?
While each side of this issue has its proponents, the most helpful comment, I think, comes
from those
- thinkers, for example, John Locke, who differentiate between
freedom and license.
These thinkers say that, if laws are "just" (see Editor's essay: Justice),
freedom is enhanced by their observance; that freedom, properly construed, is not
permission to do evil, but a liberty to choose as one ought.
Mark Twain once quipped:
- "It is by the goodness of God that in our country we
have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience,
and the prudence never to practise either of them."
America's favorite humorist begs the question:
- How much freedom should a man or woman have?
J. S. Mill, a great advocate of personal freedom, has this to say: "The only
freedom which deserves the name," Mill thinks, "is that of pursuing our own
good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or
impede their efforts to obtain it";
for,
- "in proportion to the development of his individuality,
each person becomes more valuable to himself, and is therefore capable of being
more valuable to others. There is a greater fullness of life about his own
existence, and when there is more life in the units there is more in the mass which is
composed of them."
Adler takes us even closer to an answer when, in a burst of insight, a synthesis
of many years' study, he suggests that:
- "When I act -- I am free!"
A simple statement, but expressing much. Adler is saying that when a human being
exercises choice, such volition is an expression of the hidden inner-person -- the self.
Choice without execution is ineffectual. But choice translated into action implies the
possession of freedom. "When I act -- I am free!"
- Liberty, in full blossom, works with the power of person
-- the self -- to do, think, and become, activities, in terms of initial
stirrings, which flow from the inner-person -- and given wings by Liberty!
As such, Liberty is a real (not merely apparent) good of life,
essential to Happiness, a life comprised of all truly good things.
But, Liberty is a limited real good -- we can never need more
Liberty than is good for us, but we can want more than we should have.
And how shall we know when Liberty has stepped over the line of propriety? Adler
wisely instructs us:
- Men and women should have as much freedom as justice allows;
as much freedom as he or she can use justly without harming any one else or acting against
the general welfare of society.
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